-AUMagic

I have read elsewhere that -AUMagic is Windows ME Auto Update but I don't believe it! Yes, I know I shouldn't still be using ME but its my home pc and it does all I need.
A couple of years ago -AUMagic first asked for permission through ZoneAlarm - there was no info at ZoneAlarm and I hadn't done any updates
so denied it as policy. It then regularly asked for permission but since I hadn't noticed any detriment I continued to deny it. It was so persistent that I searched for it on Google and found not many but several references that its was ME Auto Update - but also one that said the IP address resolved to a spam site not Microsoft!
I checked that my ME was up-to-date with a manual visit to MS update - it was up-to-date even though -AUMagic was denied. I checked the IP address that -AUMagic resolved to at arin.net - it wasn't Microsoft. I think I searched for and deleted -AUMagic but that was sometime ago and I can't remember the details.
Anyway, it's back. This time I denied it but it started to run anyway (I may have inadvertently allowed it) - lots of processor activity - checked the ZoneAlarm control panel and sure enough it was -AUMagic that was running. Stopped it. Searched for it on my hard drive and can't find it. It's properties in ZoneAlarm programs show no details apart from a file size of '0'. The IP address associated with it resolves to my ISPs DNS server!
I have searched the ZoneAlarm alarm site and found no current references (although Google has some cached references from this forum which are inconclusive) - what is going on with -AUMagic?

Re: -AUMagic

My understanding is the same as yours that AUMagic is part of the update mechanism for Windows ME. It may get installed as a part of each update so that could perhaps account for your seeing it again. I've not found any evidence that is is a nefarious program.

Re: -AUMagic

Hi colinbryant,

Guru Bill is very correct.
I completed a search and I found the following thread.
Here is some of the info from the thread.

AUMagic is nothing more than Microsoft's harmless &quot;sniffer&quot; for automatic updates: It checks with the Microsoft servers to see if new updates are available; that's the activity you're seeing.
In any case, if you turn off automatic updates, AUMagic should no longer ask for access. Or, you can tell Zone Alarm to block AUMagic, to the same effect: no more automatic updates.

Re: -AUMagic

AUMagic is a process that Microsoft installed to automatically check for updates to the Windows ME operating system. Therefore, your firewall will catch it when it tries to contact the Microsoft servers for new updates.

AUMagic will attempt to find updates for the following 4 files: USER.DAT, WUAUBOOT.EXE, WUAUCLT.EXE, AUHOOK.DLL - all of which perform functions of Automatic Updates. So basically, it's an automatic updater for the automatic updater!

It isrecommended that you allow AUMagic to do its thing. New updates for Windows ME are a rarity these days. Microsoft has effectively abandoned that operating system and now just tells its user to update to Windows XP. Nevertheless, you never know when a critical patch is going to be released, so allow it run just in case.

If you really want todisable automatic updates, you can do so by clicking on the Start button, then Control Panel, then Automatic Updates.

Best regards/Vriendelijke groeten. Gerard Konijn. Tilburg. The Netherlands.
Help with ZoneAlarm? There's a red Search! &gt; option at the bottom of the page to find your answer.
Or navigate the following link: http://www.donhoover.net/

Re: -AUMagic

You have probably heard this a thousand times and I don't want to hammer this idea at you when I know many others have already, but you should consider moving to XP Home or Pro or maybe even 98SE if you have it. Windows ME has a ton of flaws including major bugs, memory leaks, compatibility problems, and security holes that will never be fixed by MS. If you must run ME consider turning off the flawed ME version of System Restore. You can find out how to do this by Googling or searching on the MS support site. You should notice a 10-20% performance boost and a big improvement in system stability from doing that alone. I wouldn't bother with autoupdate for ME. Just run the Windows Update manually every month or two and block or turn off the Windows ME auto update feature.

Re: -AUMagic

I believe you and others who say there is a program named AUMagic which does what you say. I am afraid that there is a program -AUMagic which is masquerading as AUMagic.

Let me repeat the key points:

- when the program asks for permission through the ZoneAlarm advisor the IP address
given is the DNS server of my ISP not Microsoft

- the properties show a file size of
0

- when I search for -AUMagic on my PC the file is not found

- even though I have denied -AUMagic, my operating system appears to be up-to-date whenever I try a manual update - indicating that the auto-update is working.

I didn't give you the full story before because I couldn't really remeber the details - some time ago (probably 2 years) read a similar question/answer in another forum and even though I was suspicious I created a restore point and I did allow -AUMagic. There was alot of hard disk activity and the next time I rebooted, the desktop was changed and for several other reasons I can't remember Iwas unhappy and so used the sytem restore.

I have been niggled by -AUMagic ever since but done nothing about it till now. As others have said it does seem to be an ME issue (or non-issue) so will die out as cheapskates like me eventually upgrade to Linux